Ruth Maleczech, JoAnne Akalaitis, and the Mabou Mines family aesthetic
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2016
Journal / Book Title
Women, Collective Creation, and Devised Performance
Abstract
Since its founding, Mabou Mines’ collective structure has enabled its female leaders to shape their own status within the company, establishing creative processes and political prerogatives that rely equally upon artistic collaborations and personal relationships. Two of the founding co-artistic directors, JoAnne Akalaitis and Ruth Maleczech, pioneered this strategy, insisting that production budgets include compensation for childcare; later, they championed support for a child or partner to accompany touring artists. Their influence in establishing policies that supported artistic and personal development mirrored their paths to increased authority in the company. This chapter investigates how Mabou Mines’ approach to authority empowered Akalaitis and Maleczech, even as the ongoing historiography of the company has erroneously attributed its artistic success to a more traditional and patriarchal institutional structure.
DOI
10.1057/978-1-137-55013-2_7
Journal ISSN / Book ISBN
9781137603272
Book Editor(s)
Kathryn Mederos Syssoyeva, Scott Proudfit
MSU Digital Commons Citation
Brater, Jessica, "Ruth Maleczech, JoAnne Akalaitis, and the Mabou Mines family aesthetic" (2016). Department of Theatre and Dance Scholarship and Creative Works. 10.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/theatre-dance-facpubs/10
Published Citation
Brater, Jessica Silsby. “Ruth Maleczech, JoAnne Akalaitis, and the Mabou Mines Family Aesthetic.” In Women, Collective Creation & Devised Performance, Jan. 2016, p. 115